Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-08-01

some lbpkllis VIC tnetn snilltNl
as he thought how good I would most
likely taste, served up a la fricassee. The
coop made its last circle and they waded
out into the water. They carried me up
on the beach, Then they carefully un-
bound me Finding l could not walk or
even stand from being 50 long on the
coop. they set to work, and. after taking
OF what remained OF my clothes rubbed
my limbs till the blood got into circula-
tion. Then they hound my hands be
hind me and hurried me of through the
woods, the tall handsome fellow only
stopping to pick up the two necklaces
Putting them both on his neck he hurried
along sitter us We went through the
woods and underbrush in this manner for
an hour or two, and presently we came
out into clearing and struck into q sort
Of road which led by steep hill 10 the
other side Of the island. After getting by
the hill the road led down into a large,
cleared field. We turned to cross this,
and a We did so | noticed that some parts
OF the field were worn into paths which
| formed the shape OF q diamond. At one
| end Of the diamond the ground appeared
| to be beaten down, and as We hurried past
! noticed u thin, fiat bag, evidently made
| Of skin, lying in the apex Of the triangle
| formed by the paths rs they came to-
gether. Ii looked for all the world like =
home plate in base ball ground
Umph' impossible, l argued To myself
But, As il in support Of the absurd
thought, about thirty feet beyond this was
a natural fence made of canes, which had
| been planted, and as they grew up,
trimmed SO as TO form what looked like
| fence six feet high and twenty fee: long
But the thought WAS prepOsterous. The
idea of natives on an island in the Pacific
ocean playing our national game! Alb
surdl And gave 1t no more thought
After passing across the lot We fol.
lowed path. which ran into road that
appeared to be singularly well Travelled,
and which led tn large cluster Of well
built houses which could see in the dis
tance. As We got nearer We were met by
crowd of natives Amid the chatter OF
the natives ] was hurried across little
squsr- green to the front Of hut, which
was apparently built better than the ma
jority.
Il knew at once that their king lived
here, and my heart grew faint as ] con
ceived that was to he presented to the
king for his decision, and as l thought Of
the reputed ferOcity Of the South Sea
islanders, most likely death. The curtain
at the entrance was suddenly drawn aside
and my guides pushed me forward into
the hut, while they remained outside and
closed the curtain.
The hut was lit up well by an aper-
ture in the side of the building, and across
the room in corner I saw figure which
was strangely familiar to me engaged in
what thought tbut put the idea away
as untenable' was the winding Of what
appeared TO me as q broken baseball bat
I coughed and the figure Strengthened up,
looked at me moment and came toward
me with outstretched hands. As he came
by the window i saw him with great dis
tinctness. 1t was John ]. Jones.
"To be sure, he was some ffty years
older than when last saw him, but as he
was clean shaven l recognized his peculiar
and clear cut features N an instant He
lid not recognize me and introduced my
self, snd for the rest Of that day We
snapped congratulations, etc, and
;alked myself hoarse in telling how the
world had progressed since he buried him
Seif On that little island some fifty years
before All Of q sudden | remembered |
vas doing all the talking, and asked him
what under the world he was doing way
living with lot Of csnnibais
:. They arr. NOT cannihals said JnhnI
.,,sv ar. naonle who I have h,S nnSs,
nv sy. for fifty wears in fnrtbersne,. az a
scbe,n, I ,honSbt Of wbila hree,i;no ,rot-
ters down in Connecticnt Icame ont
here. and settling on this island. by iudi-
c;onsIr y,yiuo nresents to natives ronn5s-
bout, rot some forty or fifty families to
settle with ME. and I have brought nv
scheme to perfection. But saw he sud-
denly broke in. what is the popular game
in the United States nowp'
Il told h,m base hall, He jumped 10
his feet threw his cocoanut hat into the
air. and burrahed until nearly ,bIack in
the fac,. and some of the natives came
rushing in under the impression that he
WAS getting killed. He drove them out
with base hall hat. and continued:
While raising those fat hocs and that
prixe OK, YOU remember, Thought to nv
self: II can select the finest animals Of
certain kind, trotting horses TOR in
stance, and breed still better trotters,
why can't select suitable people, train
them to particular duty, select the most
capable, mate them and after while pro-
duce people to whom that duty viii be
second nature i acted at once on the
suggestion, and l am happy to say have
succeeded
Why said l, some few years ago
Mr.. Darwin expounded these views, and
they are now universally held by all
people. BY the way, what kind OF duty
have you brought them up TO"
Baseball, answered John j. Jones.
81 gnsped. And then told him to
what extent the game had developed; how
high priced the players were and 50 on.
John j. IS face flushed with delight, and
he told me he'd got eighteen men and two
umpires drilled SO that they could do
everything. Said he'd tell me the next
day when they went to the grounds To
practice" And the Ancient Mariner
raised himself an inch or SO, rolled the
ball over so as TO find softer spot, and
begging n chew Of tobacco sat down again
and continued:
THE next morning. after q breakfast Of
houea rico stexed rnonkey and a drink